Elon Musk has tasked his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with aggressively downsizing the federal workforce and cutting government spending. But some staffers are reportedly pocketing six-figure salaries from the very agencies whose budgets DOGE is slashing.
Wired found that some of the advisory body’s workers are bringing in the big bucks despite billionaire Musk’s stern messaging back in November that working for DOGE would be “tedious” and that “compensation” is “zero.”
The publication identified three DOGE employees reportedly making six figures: Jeremy Lewin, Kyle Schutt, and Nate Cavanaugh, who are reported to be earning taxpayer-funded salaries of $167,000, $195,200, and just over $120,500 per year, respectively.
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Some other prominent employees do appear to be unpaid volunteers, Wired said, noting however that it’s unclear whether they are getting a paycheck through other government bodies.
Meanwhile, DOGE has claimed to have slashed $105 billion in wasteful spending since Trump returned to power on Jan. 20. Musk’s workforce overhaul directive has already affected tens of thousands of federal employees.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
In a scathing letter last month, 21 DOGE staffers quit their jobs, blasting how the SpaceX CEO was running the show.
The employees said they refused to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services” in a joint resignation letter obtained by the Associated Press.
“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” they wrote. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”
On Saturday, DOGE blasted a second email to federal workers, requiring them to submit five bullet points summarizing their accomplishments from the past week. They were given a deadline of Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET to respond.
The mass email campaign is part of a broader effort by DOGE and the Trump administration to streamline the federal workforce.
The White House said that fewer than half of some 2.3 million government employees had responded to an initial email sent last month.
